


After the Apocalypse

by Annariel



Series: Primeval Zombie Apocalypse [2]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Gen, Post-Apocalypse, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 16:32:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2857556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annariel/pseuds/Annariel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Funnily enough, they carried on seeking out and closing down anomalies even after the Zombie Apocalypse.  Only now the roads were worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Apocalypse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eriah211.livejournal.com](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=eriah211.livejournal.com).



> Thanks to fififolle for beta-reading.

The armoured truck bounced as they hit yet another pot hole. Becker cursed under his breath. He'd pulled a muscle in his back a couple of days previously and every jolt sent shooting pains across his shoulders.

"Time you took more painkillers," Lester said from where he was driving.

Becker cursed again but fumbled in the glove compartment for the pills. He glanced at the makeshift anomaly detector lashed on top of the dashboard. They didn't have far to go. He put aside the codeine with regret. He was going to need to be alert and codeine made him sleepy. He took two ibuprofen instead. They went over another pot hole.

"Where are pot holes on the to do list for re-establishing civilisation?" he asked.

"After the Internet but before the railways."

"After the Internet?"

"Connor argued long and hard for the benefits of the Internet."

"It's more important than motorways you can drive on?"

"In case you hadn't noticed we are driving on this motorway." The truck bounced again. "Albeit a little uncomfortably."

Becker glanced at the detector again and then at the map spread across his knees. "Next turning, I think."

Lester nodded and started to indicate.

"Lester, there is no one else on this bloody motorway, why are you indicating?"

"I would hate to fall out of the habit for when civilisation is restored."

Becker snorted. They pulled off the exit onto an A road. Becker looked at the detector again. It didn't show a map or a location, just a distance and direction. He checked back at the map spread across his knees.

"Looks like there's a housing estate just off to the right. I'm guessing it's in the middle of that."

"Just our luck!"

Lester took the first right and the housing estate came into view. Row upon row of similar box-like houses. Built-up areas were the worst for zombies. When the apocalypse had started, amid all the panic and hysteria, Abby had insisted that nothing can live on nothing. That sooner or later, if there wasn't anything to eat, the zombies would starve. She had proved right but it had taken a long time especially since, it transpired, that zombies were not averse to eating each other if no fresh meat were available. It now meant, though, that the countryside and sparsely populated areas were almost zombie free. Cities and towns remained hazardous.

Lester drove down the winding roads of the housing estate. They were all laid out in gentle curves which made it difficult to see far in any direction. Grass was beginning to grow in cracks in the tarmac. The houses looked small and cheap. It would be a long time before anyone came back here. 

"Picked up some zeds," Lester said.

Becker looked in the wing mirror. Two zombies were visible on the street behind them. The sound of the engine drew zombies like moths to a flame. He sighed and looked at the anomaly detector again.

"Not far now."

"More up ahead."

Three had straggled out across the road in front of them. 

"The anomaly's in about four hundred yards. We'll have to keep following the road."

"Brace yourself."

Lester floored the accelerator and they drove through the undead in front of them. Decaying hands scrabbled at the windows and the truck bounced as they drove over a body. Becker hissed in pain and hung onto his seat. Then he checked the mirror again. There were now five zombies behind them. As they rounded the bend the anomaly came in sight. It was in the front garden of a small house. Lester pulled up to a halt at the kerb.

"Stay in here," Becker ordered.

He grabbed the shotgun from its clips above the windscreen and jumped out of the truck. He walked towards the five zombies behind them. Once they were in range of the shotgun he began methodically shooting them in the head. At the same time, he kept as far from them as possible and kept a wary eye out for more. The moment they were down he did a quick 360 check and then headed back towards the comparative safety of the truck.

He gave Lester the signal for all clear once he was back by the passenger door. Lester released his seat belt and then scrambled through to the back of the vehicle. Becker moved slowly around the truck, keeping a watch for more unwelcome visitors. Moments later, the back doors opened and Lester climbed out, carrying the anomaly locking device with him.

"Let's be quick," Becker said.

While Becker stood guard, Lester set up the device with quick practice and switched it on. Once the anomaly was locked, they both did a quick check for tracks, but nothing seemed to have been disturbed. The garden was heavily overgrown, untended since the outbreak. If something large had come through it would have left visible traces.

"Time to go," Becker said. Three more zombies had appeared, shambling around the corner of the street.

They climbed back into the truck. The way ahead was still clear, so Lester drove further along the road. On the map the road they were on looped back to the A road. They'd drive until they were in open country and then wait. Once the anomaly closed it would stop registering on the detector. Then there would be a second trip back to collect the locking device and a long drive back to the army base from which the remnants of the ARC team now operated.

"Another day at the office," Becker said.

Lester grimaced. "No zombies polluting the time lines at any rate."

"Hopefully not."

It seemed like a strange thing to be doing, still chasing anomalies when everything else had fallen apart, but Connor and Matt were insistent. The work carried on, held together by sticky-tape and string, but somehow the familiarity of it helped keep them all sane.

Lester pulled up in an old lay-by between the housing estate and the motorway. 

"You might as well get some sleep. I'll wake you when the anomaly closes," he said.

Becker gratefully downed some codeine and then crawled into the back of the truck. They had sleeping bags back there for when shouts took them a long way from home. He left Lester to keep watch. 

A few hours later, in what had once been a small suburban back garden, the anomaly quietly winked out of existence.


End file.
